The couple’s home, where they have lived for the past 35 years, is testament to their industrious and creative natures. It’s decorated throughout with antique furniture and dolls that Dorothy collected, her paintings, and such keepsakes as a player piano that Allen restored.

Allen learned meat-cutting as a young man in Nebraska, and went on to own several butcher shops during his career. He also worked at Convair in San Diego during World War II, making B-24 bombers, and delivered groceries to the homes of Hollywood stars, including legendary director Cecil B. DeMille.

During his spare time, Allen kept his home maintained and restored Ford Thunderbird cars. His daughter, Joan Bushu of Valley Center, said he was up on the roof of his home as recently as two years ago.

“They were both very active and very dependable,” Bushu said. “You could count on their word.”

Dorothy’s activities included sewing clothes for the couple and their two daughters, restoring furniture, maintaining her doll collection and taking care of the family’s banking. At one point, she owned and operated a La Mesa antique shop called The Wishing Well.

The couple met as teens during high school in Nebraska, and kept in touch when Allen moved to California with a friend to seek work and escape the Dust Bowl.

Dorothy later moved West with her family, and romance was rekindled.

“He was just a polite person,” Dorothy said.

Said Allen: “She was a cute little gal.”

Dorothy is the more social of the two, prone to hugging strangers, while Allen described himself as an introvert.

“He’s been the greatest,” Dorothy said. “To get someone like Allen is a blessing, but he never says that about me.”

Among their passions over the years was square dancing. These days, they go to a local recreation center on Monday evenings to eat popcorn and watch the dancers.

Dorothy said she can no longer keep up on the dance floor because of her legs.

The couple have three grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Their other daughter, Judy Witten, lives in Hawaii.

Clean living also may have played a part in the couple’s longevity.

“Momma pounded it in my head not to drink or smoke, and I never have,” Dorothy said.

Pete Mayfield, pastor of the First Christian Church in Escondido, where Dorothy and Allen are members, said Dorothy greets worshippers to Sunday services, while Allen helps set up for the service.

“They’re really wonderful people, and very faithful,” Mayfield said.

Mayfield said his own parents were married for 72 years, and he and his wife have celebrated their 65th anniversary.

Such long marriages stem from traditional teaching handed down from parents to children, he said.

“The way you’re raised and taught and being faithful and keeping your word,” he said. “Till death do us part. When I said it, I meant it.”

Seventy-fifth anniversaries are “very rare” because two difficult things need to happen, wrote Andrew Cherlin, sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University and author of “The Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family Today,” in an email.

“First, both spouses need to live into their 90s, and, second, they have to keep their marriage intact for three-quarters of a century. Very few married couples make it past those hurdles,” said Cherlin, who added that he was not aware of any statistics on the number of couples reaching their 75th anniversary.

Bushu said she wanted to contact her parents’ friends and organize a party to mark their anniversary, but they opted for a quiet celebration.

“They’ll be going out to lunch with their friends and family,” she said.